Since we started on Roosevelt Island, let’s continue with it. Like I said, Roosevelt Island is a long, narrow spit of land in the East River, between Manhattan and Queens, two NYC boroughs. Administratively, the island is part of the borough of Manhattan. A funny story about that. I already mentioned that I lived on the island, and my apartment was on Main Street. So, since it’s Manhattan, the postal address did not require the indication of the borough. See, if you live in Brooklyn, your address would be – Whatever #, Whatever St, Brooklyn, NY (“NY” means New York State). If you live in Queens, it will be – Whatever #, Whatever St, Queens, NY. Manhattan is the only borough that has the postal designation of New York, NY. (That’s why some snobs who live in Manhattan do not accept that people from Brooklyn and Queens, or, god forbid, the Bronx, actually live in New York too. They call them “the bridge and tunnel crowd”.) So, my address was on Main St., New York, NY. And my New York friends would be very confused to see that. They would be like – “We don’t have Main Street in New York…”. And I would be like – ‘Oh, but you do!”, looking very smug.
This little anecdote shows you at least one thing – even for New Yorkers Roosevelt Island is pretty much an uncharted wilderness. Mostly because there is nothing really there that would compel a New Yorker to visit the place. If you don’t live there, or are not a student of Cornell Tech (a Cornell University’s campus on Roosevelt Island), there is no reason for you to bother. Most of them don’t, and so they never learn that there is a Main Street somewhere in New York. Although, the island does have a few things that could attract a tourist – a gondola ride over the river from Manhattan, a nice park at the very tip of the island, with the best panoramic views from Midtown skyscrapers, over the river, to Long Island City in Queens. There are also very picturesque ruins of a smallpox hospital, the legacy of the colourful times in the island’s history.
Back then, it was called Blackwell Island, and, after the city bought it in 1828, it was mostly used for things that would be convenient to keep away from the general populace, i.e. prisons, hospitals for contagious diseases, and mental asylums. At one point, there were 26(!) such institutions on the island. Along with this kind of establishments, the government used the island for almshouses – the subsidized housing for the poor. Imagine living in a house surrounded by prisons, smallpox hospitals, and asylums, with no means to escape – there were no bridges, no gondola, no subway back then. No wonder, the island was nicknamed the “Farewell Island” – if you end up there, you’re as good as gone forever. A lot changed since then. By mid-20th century, the hospitals and prisons had been relocated, and most of the island lay largely abandoned. In 1970s, they started building residential complexes on the island, in 1976 the Tramway was opened (we will talk about it in the first gallery below), and the island gradually became what it is today – a quiet residential community, full of parks, with a beautiful waterfront walk, away from the hustle and bustle of Manhattan, yet close enough to get to it in literally 15 mins.